His dark voice trails down her spine, lighting a path of desire that renders her breathless. "If only I were in a position of no consequence."
Alia's breath wavers when the pad of his thumb slowly glides across her bottom lip.
"Then I could give in...
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"When you spend so long trapped in darkness, you find that the darkness begins to stare back." - Sarah J. Mass
•
Dytikos
Darkness meets Valen's opening eyes, consciousness slowly returning whilst a burdensome ache travels through his entire body. He stifles a groan, hand raising to guard his abdomen as the taste of iron lingers on his tongue. He blinks, and then he realises he's in a room void of light.
He stumbles to his feet, mind spiralling into disarray as he crashes into furniture. Glass smashes to the ground, the sound ringing in his ears as his breaths turn panicked. Palms slam against a wall, fingers reaching for a door, any door, and his heart begins to race. Sweat builds on his skin, head light as he begins to see flashing white stars in his vision.
He needs to get out of this room. This cell.
Grabbing onto a door handle, Valen yanks the door back in desperation. A strangled breath escapes his lips as the door is torn off its hinges and thrown into the wall behind him.
Blades against skin, branding, peeling, as he lays in a cell of darkness. Burning flesh; the orange flames illuminate his scorched skin as he screams inside a box of silence.
Valen's legs give out and he falls onto his hands and knees in the upstairs hallway of the Dytikos house. Light fills his pupils, but he can't see anything other than his past.
Laying on a table covered in sticky, dried blood, Valen pulls against ankle and wrist restraints with everything he has. But his body barely moves, strength stolen from him by the hands of those who bask in the sound of his torture. Crimson covers his skin, open wounds scattered across his torso whilst his eyes struggle to stay open. For a moment, he finds solace in the seconds when his skin isn't being touched. But then a searing heat digs straight into his lower abdomen, and it makes his body jolt with an agony he can't even begin to describe. The table shakes, tears dripping onto the floor alongside fresh blood.
Hands grab his face.
Gentle. Warm.
The bleeding memory begins to blur, and the scent of a silver blade burning flesh slowly fades from his consciousness. Each panting breath is slower than the last, and eventually, his body turns calm.
Green eyes.
Tearful. Worried.
Pink lips.
Soft. Moving.
Reaching for Alia's waist, Valen grabs the girl and pulls her towards him. He adjusts himself and leans against one of the walls of the hallway just as he moves her onto his lap.
